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Abstract

According to Kapila (1993) circumcision is one of the oldest known procedures and most widely spread religious and social custom in the world. Meintjes (1998) states that there are problems associated with this custom such as sepsis, septicaemia, penile mutilations, dehydration, hospital admissions and deaths. Traditional circumcision among the amaXhosa is a traditional rite of passage from boyhood to manhood. Its modern manifestations, however has become problematic because there is an increase in the morbidity and mortality which is associated with penile gangrene, septic penile wounds and dehydration. Therefore, an intervention was needed to reduce the problems. An introduction of a westernized health care project into the custom was developed and some communities rejected this. There was a need to understand how it can be accepted in villages in order to adapt it and promote its acceptance by other communities. The integrative model of community health promotion was used in order to guide this study because at the broadest level of the model, the nurse works with community leaders as well as with lay people. In this study the researcher worked with two key informants and three FG芒�?�?s composed of General informants in order to achieve maximum health potential through active participation. A qualitative research design was used specifically micro-ethnography nursing in order to study the meaning, patterns and experiences of the amaXhosa in a rural village. Both 芒�?�?emic芒�?聺 and 芒�?�?etic芒�?聺 was followed in studying the acceptance of westernized health care into traditional circumcision. Separate in-depth, semi-structured and face-to-face interviews were conducted with two key informants and three Focus Groups composed of five to six members who have undergone the custom. A voice recorder was used to capture everything. A total of 18 informants participated in the study. Data was transcribed by verbatim and thematic analysis was carried out. The major themes and sub-themes emerged suggested a need for incorporation of westernized health care (WHC) into traditional circumcision custom in order to reduce complications related to the ritual. Informants stated that boys should be physically examined before going to traditional circumcision custom and also stated that there is a rapid circumcision wound healing when WHC was introduced to the custom and for this only one surgical blade was used for each initiate, suturing of wounds was carried out to replace herbs that were used in the past, water was offered freely without any restrictions to prevent dehydration, initiates were given nutritious diet as opposed to dried corn that was issued in olden days, dressing for wounds was avoided by traditional attendants, there were no beliefs in confessions (ukubula IsiXhosa), treatment of diseases was carried out in the lodge by registered nurses and no hospital admissions were noted because of zero complications. This custom remained private and secretive because initiates remain in the mountains. Initiates duration of stay in the mountains have reduced drastically when compared along with the mortality rate. The acceptance of westernized health care into traditional circumcision in this rural Eastern Cape Village occurred because of problems associated with the old traditional circumcision. However, after the introduction of WHC no more complications were experienced and this approach could be transferred to other settings.

Biography

Email: mntsaba@wsu.ac.za